Quick thinking averts catastrophe

JUST a day after Ford issued a recall on its Ranger model utes, a blaze starting in one of the vehicles closed Abbott St and forced the evacuation of a takeaway store.

Emergency crews arrived to black smoke and flames two metres high leaping from under the bonnet of the red four wheel drive which was parked outside fast food store Nando's about 6.45pm last night. The store was evacuated and Abbott St closed for an hour.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Cairns station officer Clint L'Estrange said an electrical fault was suspected to be behind the fire.

"The fireys did a good job to keep it to that car," he said.

"The main priority was to manage explosions."

Emergency services rushed to the scene of a vehicle fire in front of Nando's on Abbott St, Cairns on December 19, 2017.

A white Land Rover parked next to the vehicle sustained some heat damage.

Owner Josh Edwards had driven the car up from Melbourne for the Christmas break and was in the Night Markets when he heard about the incident.

Neither he nor fire officers were aware of the recall on the car.

LAST NIGHT: FIREFIGHTERS have been commended for quickly extinguishing a car fire on busy Abbott St in Cairns last night.

Emergency crews were called to reports of smoke coming from underneath the bonnet of a four-wheel drive just before 6.45pm.

Emergency services rushed to the scene of a vehicle fire in front of Nando's on Abbott St.

On the way to the incident, they received news the smoke had turned into flames.

Fast food store Nando's was evacuated as black smoke was seen billowing from the red Ford Ranger ute.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Cairns station officer Clint L'Estrange said an electrical fault was suspected to be behind the fire.

"The fireys did a good job to keep it to that car," he said.

"The main priority was to manage explosions."

A white Land Rover parked next to the vehicle sustained some heat damage.

The owners, a couple who had driven the car up from Melbourne for the Christmas break, were in the Night Markets when they heard about the incident.